Painted hoop and method of making it



April 25, 1939. J. H. BO PAINTED HOOP AND MET v Filed Nov Patented Apr. 25, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFlCE 2 Claims.

This invention relates to painted metal hoops for barrels, kegs and the like, and to a method of making them.

Metal hoops of the type referred to herein are 5 commonly painted on both sides to minimize corrosion and rusting, and to improve their appearance. For many purposes dark colored paints have been used, and the practice has been to apply the paint to both sides of the hoops. However, it has been found that when the hoops so painted are driven onto barrels in coopering, the dark pigment in the paint on the inside of the hoops rubs off onto the barrel and streaks or stains and discolors it, which is highly objectionable. The difiiculty has not been overcome by painting only the outside of the hoops for when that is done the inside is not protected against rusting.

It is among the objects of this invention to provide hoops which are painted or otherwise provided with protective or decorative coatings on both sides which will not stain a barrel when driven thereon, which provides for the use of any desired color on the outside of the hoop, and which protects the hoop against corrosion. A further object is to provide a method of making such hoops in a rapid and inexpensive manner.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a face View of a metal sheet from which hoop blanks are to be formed; Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section through sheet-painting apparatus; Fig. 3 is a view, similar to Fig. 1, of the painted sheet after it has been provided with rivet holes and has been trimmed to size; Fig. 4 is a view of the sheet after being slit into hoop blanks; and. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a finished hoop made by this process.

In accordance with this invention barrel and the like hoops are painted on both sides to prevent or minimize rusting and corrosion, but the inside surface of the hoop is painted a color which will not substantially affect the appearance of the barrel even though the paint be rubbed off in driving the hoop into place. With most barrels light colors are satisfactorily applicable, although colorless paint or coating, such as provided by clear varnish or clear lacquer. may be used. The outside of the hoop may, of course, be of any desired color. Thereby the hoop and the appearance of the coopered package are preserved, and desired dark colors may be freely used on the exterior of the hoops while avoiding the disadvantages encountered heretofore.

Although reference is made herein to paint and painting it will be understood that this is for brevity of reference and contemplates any coating material which affords the desired protection for the underlying metal and is not otherwise objectionable, for example by providing a surface that causes the hoop to slip easily 01f the container. Paints and the like will, of course, commonly be preferred.

Referring to Fig. 5 of the drawing, a hoop for a barrel or the like is shown painted on both the inside and outside. The outside is painted in one of the darker colors commonly required by purchasers, the drawing, for purposes of illustration, being lined for black. To prevent a barrel from being stained by the pigments in a dark color when the hoop is driven thereon, the dark color is confined to the outside of the hoop and, according to the invention as just explained, the inner surface thereof is painted in a light color the pigments of which do not discolor the barrel. A suitable color for this purpose is light gray, as indicated in the drawing. To repeat, in this way the hoop is fully protected on both sides by a coat of paint, the visible outer surface of the hoop is painted the color desired by the purchaser, and the barrel on which the hoop is subsequently mounted is not discolored by the paint on the inside of the hoop.

The hoops provided by the invention may be made in a variety of ways, as by forming the hoops and then applying the separate coats of paint. However, an especially desirable, convenient and inexpensive way of making the hoops is to apply the two. colors to opposite sides of sheets 2 (Fig. 1) of metal of approximately the length of a hoop blank and of approximately the width of a multiple of hoop blanks, and then out the sheet into strips which are formed into hoops. As shown in Fig. 2, each plate is fed between a pair of driven rolls 3 the upper one of which'applies to the top of the plate a coat of paint received from a transfer roll 4 that engages a rotatable paint roll 6 partially immersed in a tank 1 of paint. Mounted in engagement with the lower roll on its delivery side is a scraper 8 for removing any paint therefrom that might get on the lower roll and otherwise be carried around the roll and deposited on the lower face of the plate. After the plate has passed between these rolls it is dried, turned over and passed through another similar painting apparatus for painting the opposite side of the plate a diiferent color.

One of the coats of paint thus applied to one side of sheet 2 is a relatively dark color that the purchaser of the hoops to be made from the sheet wants the outside of the hoops to have. It is a feature of this invention that the coat of paint applied to the opposite side of the sheet is of such color, suitably light or colorless, that it will not stain a barrel if rubbed against it.

After the sheet has been thoroughly dried it is trimmed, as in a suitable shear having means for accurately positioning and holding it, to reduce the opposite sides to exact parallelism and to bring the sheet to a width that is a multiple of the width of the hoop blanks desired. Either concurrently or as a separate step the opposite ends of the plate are trimmed, if need be, to square them relative to the sides previously trimmed. During this operation the length of the sheet is reduced to the length of the hoop blanks desired, and as shown in Fig. 3, the blank is provided with perforations 9 so positioned in the ends of the sheet that they will fall in the middle line of the hoop blanks to be made therefrom.

Thereafter the squared, accurately dimensioned, perforated sheet is run through a slitter which divides the sheet along lines halfway between perforations into a plurality of hoop blanks II, as shown in Fig. 4, the number depending upon the Width of the sheet and the Width of the individual blanks. Each individual hoop blank I I is then subjected to a beading operation which turns over one edge to form a bead l2 which is desirable in that it strengthens the hoop and forms a surface for the cooper to pound on when driving the hoop onto a barrel. During this operation the blanks are also bent into circular form with the light colored surface on the inside and with the opposite ends overlapping with perforations 9 registering for the reception of rivets.

By the method described herein painted hoops can be manufactured economically because several hoop blanks are painted and formed at a time.

Some types of paint are undesirable for the purposes of this invention because their surface characteristics are such as to permit the hoops to become dislodged easily, or actually to spring off wooden barrels. Unpainted hoops may also show this tendency. I have discovered that this may be overcome by the use of a paint which on drying is adapted to improve the adherence of the hoop, more particularly one which possesses a slight tackiness. The tackiness should be such as to cause the hoop to cling to the barrel but not such as to be objectionable in handling. Such paints may include, for example, glyceryl phthalate, phenol-formaldehyde condensation products, and chlorinated rubber and petroleum condensation products, together with resins and pigment to give the proper type of dried surface.

In using such paint it is preferable todry it by the application of heat, for example as shown in Fig. 2. A burner pipe it extends transversely of plate 2 and is supplied with gas to form a series of flames ll spaced to effect the desired drying by rapidly driving volatile matter from the paint film to provide the desired tacky surface. The degree of tackiness needed is such as will cause good adherence between hoop and container, but insufficient to cause the sheets 2 to adhere when piled.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the principle and mode of practicing my invention, and have illustrated and described what I now consider to represent its best embodiment. However, I desire to have it understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

I claim:

1. The method of making painted metal hoops, comprising painting one face of a metal sheet with a material that has a tacky surface when dry and is of substantially the same color as a surface against which it is rubbed when the finished hoop is driven into place, painting the opposite face of the sheet any desired color, slitting the sheet into strips of a width proper for forming hoop blanks, and then individually bending the hoop blanks into hoops with said first-mentioned color on the inside.

2. A barrel hoop provided with a protective coating of paint or the like, the coating on the inside of the hoop being of substantially the same color as the outside of the barrel onto which the hoop is driven, whereby staining of the barrel by said inside coating when rubbed onto it as the hoop is driven into place is substantially eliminated, the character of the coating being such that it has a tacky surface for holding the hoop in position on the barrel, and the coating on the outside of the hoop being of a color that would stain the outside of said barrel if it rubbed against the barrel.

JOSEPH I-I. BOWMAN. 

